BlackBerry unveils new Z30 smartphone

NEW YORK -- BlackBerry has unveiled its newest smartphone, the Z30, touting it as the company's biggest, fastest and most advanced device yet.

The all-touch smartphone comes with a 5-inch display and BlackBerry's largest battery so far. BlackBerry says it's designed for people looking for a smartphone geared toward communications, messaging and productivity.

The new BlackBerry Z30 smartphone comes with BlackBerry 10 OS version 10.2, which includes hundreds of refinements plus many new features that help you be more productive. Among key features are:

BlackBerry Priority Hub - BlackBerry Hub is the one place to manage all your conversations and notifications. The new BlackBerry Priority Hub can now learn what conversations and what people are important to you making it fast and easy to find the messages and information you need. It collects priority messages across your email, social networking and other accounts and gives you instant access to the conversations most important to you to help you stay organized and focused on the most important tasks.

BBM Now in Any App and Message Previews Everywhere - BlackBerry 10 OS version 10.2 continues to refine the unique communications experience of the platform. You can now get a preview of any message as it arrives in whatever app you're using, and immediately dismiss it or tap it to read the full content and respond. If a BBM message arrives, you can instantly reply to the message without even leaving the app you're in. In addition, if your phone is locked, you can tap the various icons on the Lock Screen to see an instant preview of your most recent messages and notifications.

5" Super AMOLED Display - The BlackBerry Z30 smartphone features the latest in display technology with a 5" Super AMOLED display that makes whatever you're running larger, clearer and more vivid. The smartphone also houses many top of the line components, including a 1.7 GHz processor with quadcore graphics that makes browsing web pages faster and games more detailed.

Stereo Audio and BlackBerry Natural Sound - The BlackBerry Z30 smartphone comes with stereo speakers that immerse you in your music, videos, apps and games, and makes conversations sound like you're face-to-face. BlackBerry Natural Sound is new technology exclusive to BlackBerry and part of BlackBerry 10 OS version 10.2 that makes BBM Voice and BBM Video chats sound more natural and realistic. BlackBerry Natural Sound lets you hear nuances and variations in tone, making conversations sound like you're in the same room.

New Antenna Technology - The BlackBerry Z30 smartphone features BlackBerry's new generation antenna technology that dynamically tunes reception to give you better connectivity in low signal areas. BlackBerry Paratek Antenna can give you faster data transfers and fewer dropped calls in low signal areas, keeping you connected in more places.

Longer Battery Life - The BlackBerry Z30 smartphone includes a 2880 mAh battery, the largest battery ever built into a BlackBerry smartphone. Combined with the battery enhancements in BlackBerry 10 OS version 10.2, you can get up to 25 hours of mixed use to keep you moving from dawn 'til dawn.

The company's full Documents To Go suite comes preinstalled and the phone runs on the latest version of the BlackBerry 10 operating system.

The launch comes as the Canadian smartphone maker continues to ponder a possible sale of the company amid tough competition from fellow smartphone makers like Apple Inc. and Samsung.

BlackBerry's 10.2 operating system will be rolled out to existing Z10, Q10 and Q5 smartphone owners starting in October. Each wireless carrier will determine its exact launch date on their respective networks.

Later in the morning, a Wall Street Journal report surfaced claiming that BlackBerry is poised to lay off 40% of its workforce. The company has been in the process of implementing a cost-reduction and streamlining plan, as the company moves from their old software platform that ran previous smartphones to the new one based on an entirely different platform.